Cannot read keyboard in a loop in Python

Question

I need a Python script to read arrow keys and react to them.

As a first test:

import keyboard
import time

while True:
 if keyboard.is_pressed("i"):
  print("up")
 if keyboard.is_pressed("k"):
  print("down")
 time.sleep(0.1)

It never prints "up" but, prints characters:

i
i
j
^[[A
^[[D
^[[C

I run the script in debian terminal:

sudo python3 test.py 

I expect up or down to show up in the terminal.

What am I missing?

Answer 1

from pynput import keyboard

def on_key_press(key):
    try:
        # Print the key that was pressed
        print(f'Key {key} pressed')
    except AttributeError:
        # Some special keys may not have a name attribute
        print(f'Special key {key} pressed')
 
def on_key_release(key):
    try:
        # Print the key that was released
        print(f'Key {key} released')
    except AttributeError:
        # Some special keys may not have a name attribute
        print(f'Special key {key} released')
 
# Create a keyboard listener
listener = keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_key_press, on_release=on_key_release)

# Start listening for keyboard events

listener.start()

# Keep the listener running

listener.join()